[Speaking of "honest hand-signs users," one more person has to be mentioned—Hoshigaki Kisame.]
On the screen, a scene flashed of Kisame standing in the water, forming hand signs in a perfectly standard, textbook manner, and summoning a massive shark.
The shark leaped from beneath the water's surface, opening its bloodthirsty maw as water splashed everywhere. Kisame himself wore a serious expression, his hand signs executed with flawless precision.
People across the various timelines of the Shinobi World were a bit puzzled. Compared to Zabuza, Kisame's hand signs were completely normal—flawless, even. So why was he also being teased?
[Although Kisame appeared early on, his combat scenes were only truly depicted in the later part of Shippuden. By that time, any powerful Shinobi who couldn't use one-handed seals, simplified seals, or Jutsu without hand signs would be too embarrassed to show their face.]
[What proper Shinobi actually uses hand signs these days? Right, Hashirama? Shouldn't Ninjutsu just be: clap your hands and whatever you call out appears?]
The screen then flashed through a series of scenes: Hashirama clapping his hands together, black markings appearing on his face.
"Sage Art · Wood Release · True Several Thousand Hands!"
Hashirama glowed with blue chakra as a powerful gust of wind blew his hair back. A colossal thousand-armed Buddha statue appeared in the sky—its body towering, its arms spread wide, as if it filled the entire sky.
Its palms opened, blotting out the sun.
Seeing this, the people of the Shinobi World felt cold sweat trickle down their backs.
'Was this the true strength of Senju Hashirama—the God of Shinobi?'
This sense of oppression was off the charts!
Just looking at the image on the Sky Screen made them feel like they couldn't breathe, as if the giant Buddha would press down from the sky at any moment.
---
[Land of Rain, Amegakure]
Nagato sat in his wheelchair, alone outside a tall building. Rain fell on his face, streaming down his cheeks—but he didn't move. His gaze was locked onto the thousand-armed Buddha on the screen.
The sheer scale of that Ninjutsu.
That overwhelming sense of oppression.
It absolutely exceeded his own Shinra Tensei; even the Chibaku Tensei he used with all his might would probably be easily smashed to pieces by this giant Buddha.
When those thousand arms came crashing down, anything—even Chibaku Tensei—would be reduced to dust.
And yet, even Hashirama hadn't been classified as a Six Paths-level powerhouse by the Sky Screen.
For a moment, Nagato was somewhat lost.
Just how big was the gap between the threshold of a normal Super-Kage and a Super-Kage like Senju Hashirama?
---
[Konoha, Year One. A vantage point outside Konoha]
Madara was also somewhat dazed.
Was this the True Several Thousand Hands of Hashirama that was mentioned earlier when talking about that monk named Chiriku?
Did that brat Chiriku's Jutsu even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Hashirama's?
He slowly turned to look at Hashirama, his gaze sharp and scrutinizing.
"Hashirama… just how many Jutsus have you been hiding from me?"
Hashirama was momentarily speechless. "That's it, really! The screen has laid bare all my secrets."
Madara gave a cold snort, noncommittal.
He still remembered: in some "future" timeline, Hashirama had ended up killing him.
[Of course, most people couldn't achieve what Hashirama did—clap their hands and have whatever they wanted appear. So they took the simplest and most direct approach: continuously practicing to increase their hand-signs speed and strengthen their abilities. The typical representative of this approach is Uchiha Itachi.]
[During his covert return to Konoha and his battle with Kakashi and the others, his hand-sign speed was so fast that even Kakashi's Sharingan couldn't perceive it.]
[One could only say that transplanted eyes were ultimately inferior to the original ones—or perhaps, there was simply a gap between one Sharingan and another. That said, Itachi was undeniably ridiculously handsome; otherwise, how could he still remain so popular despite being branded a "good son" of the worst kind? The saying "looks are justice" holds true in any world.]
The screen began with a hazy, foggy scene.
As footsteps sounded, two figures dressed in black cloaks with red clouds slowly walked toward the entrance of Konoha.
"You—" The Chūnin responsible for guarding just prepared to ask questions, when the slightly shorter man among them suddenly opened his eyes—a pair of Sharingan clearly visible.
The Chūnin made eye contact with that gaze and instantly fell into a Genjutsu, collapsing to the ground in a daze.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of bells, the two figures quietly disappeared into the fog deep within Konoha.
The scene then shifted to a large tree inside the village.
The two figures landed, and Kisame spoke first: "Did you find him?"
"Yes." Itachi replied indifferently.
"Then it'll be easy to handle," Kisame slowly said.
"Let's go." With that, the two leaped from the branch and disappeared among the trees.
---
[Konoha, Year 60. Land of Waves, Tazuna's house]
"Uchiha Itachi!!"
Sasuke practically spat the name through gritted teeth, shooting to his feet, his fists cracking.
Yes, one of the figures in the black-and-red cloud cloak was none other than the rogue-nin who had annihilated the Uchiha clan—Uchiha Itachi.
Sasuke hadn't expected that the future Itachi would be so bold as to return to Konoha with an Akatsuki member.
"Good! This is good!"
His voice trembled, his expression somewhat frantic. His Sharingan activated involuntarily, the two tomoe spinning rapidly.
Naruto was startled and quickly moved closer. "Sasuke, calm down!"
"Calm?!" Sasuke's voice shot up. "That man is in Konoha! I'm going to kill him!"
He made as if to charge out, one foot already lifted.
Just then, Kakashi reached out and placed a steady hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke, that's the future. The current Itachi is not in Konoha."
Sasuke breathed heavily, staring at the figure on the screen, hatred practically spilling from his eyes.
"And besides," Kakashi continued, "the screen said his hand-sign speed is so fast that even my Sharingan can't follow it. Right now, you're no match for him."
Hearing that, Sasuke's body stiffened.
Naruto walked over and patted his shoulder. "Sasuke, I'll help you. We'll get stronger together, and then we'll go find him."
Sasuke didn't answer, but his breathing slowly steadied.
Sakura stood to the side, watching the two of them, her eyes full of concern.
Kakashi also withdrew his hand and looked back at the screen.
'Itachi's return to Konoha… is it for Sasuke's Sharingan?'
In that case, these two brothers were destined to fight sooner or later.
At least Sasuke had won.
*****
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